Two East Bay men have been charged with a scheme in which stolen credit card data was used to steal thousands of gallons of diesel fuel from South Bay Safeway locations and pumped into a makeshift bladder in the back of a truck.
Yuniel Cordero, from Oakland, is accused of committing a string of fuel thefts from Safeway stores in Santa Clara County. He then sold the diesel at a discount to Henrry Umana’s San Leandro trucking company. The estimated loss is over $90,000 to date.
Arraigned on June 25, Cordero, 40, is charged with organized retail theft, identity theft, conspiracy, 61 counts of grand theft, and 14 counts of petty theft. He was released on July 1 by the court over our objection.
Umana, 44, is charged with organized retail theft, receiving stolen property, and conspiracy. He was arraigned yesterday and released by the court over our objection.
They both face incarceration, if convicted.
“These defendants were criminally filling up their fuel tanks and their pockets, using the stolen property of others,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “Our high-octane investigator along with the Sheriff’s Office made sure this scheme is out of gas and out of business.”
The scheme was uncovered when a person reported that their credit card had been used at a Safeway even though they had not shopped there. Safeway called DA Investigator Bret Moiseff, who tracked down the thief, discovering that the suspect had stolen hundreds of gallons of fuel from a San Jose Safeway over the course of months. Cordero was arrested on June 20 and investigators found skimming devices at his house.
On June 27, DA investigators, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputies, and the California Highway Patrol Organized Retail Theft Task Force searched Umana’s trucking company and found thousands of gallons of stolen fuel. He was buying it for between $3.50-$3.75 a gallon. The average price for diesel in California is now more than $5 a gallon.
